Tax-exempt Port St. Lucie paraplegic says city taxing him out of home

Hopes to move to Vero Beach where taxes are lower

ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Port St. Lucie resident Robert Mizell, a paraplegic since a 1993 plane crash, said he's being taxed out of his Viscaya Street home and wants the city to change how it taxes disabled and low-income residents. He wants to sell his home and move to Vero Beach, where taxes are much lower.

ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Port St. Lucie resident Robert Mizell, a paraplegic since a 1993 airplane crash, uses a wheelchair and ramps to get around his house and yard on Viscaya Street, which he purchased in October 2009.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Robert Mizell rolls his wheelchair to a freezer and flips open the door to show it packed with frosty venison and hog meat. He smiles proudly and describes how he killed the game himself, despite being a paraplegic.

He said he hunts on weekends out of necessity, not recreation.

A plane crash 19 years ago left him in a wheelchair and unable to hold a job. At 51, he draws about $10,000 a year in Social Security disability. He lives alone and said he has no family or friends who can help him.

Exempt from paying property taxes, Mizell thinks he should not have to pay special assessments either, but he is at the mercy of one of the state's most taxing cities. Port St. Lucie has the power but is reluctant to change how it operates, he said, and the City Council has ignored his pleas to exempt low-income residents or change its tax structure.

Mizell has put his Port St. Lucie home up for sale and hopes to move to Vero Beach, where his taxes would be lower.

"They are taxing me out of my home," he said. "I shouldn't be suffering this way. It's too much for me. They really need to just back off the taxes."

Alachua County has had a program exempting low-income eligible residents from paying solid waste assessments since 1984. Candie Nixon, director of that county's social services, said 79 residents were approved for the exemption this year. Qualified applicants must have a combined income that meets or falls below 150 percent of the federal poverty level or are certified for any social service the division offers within the preceding 12 months, Nixon said.

Such a program could cut Mizell's tax bill in half. He now pays $421 for garbage service and stormwater maintenance.

"If you're below poverty level they shouldn't tax you at all," Mizell said, "but I don't know what to do short of (moving)."

'NOT CITY'S FAULT'

State law exempts low income-qualified citizens who are totally and permanently disabled from paying ad valorem taxes for services such as parks, schools, transit, mosquito control and law enforcement. What Mizell is not exempt from is non-ad valorem taxes — fees for things like landfills, garbage collection, stormwater maintenance, beach renourishment, street lighting and/or paving, and fire and rescue services.

Because they are area-specific, the fees vary depending on one's neighborhood. Port St. Lucie's are among the highest on the Treasure Coast. Vero Beach, for example, assesses only $67.84 in county landfill fees.

Mizell suggested Port St. Lucie either reclassify its fees under the exempt ad valorem category or establish an income level in line with federal poverty levels that would exempt extremely low-income residents from paying all taxes.

That's not possible, city spokesman Ed Cunningham said, because items in the non-ad valorem category are not tied to property values and aren't really taxes but special assessments. They are added to tax bills only to make it more efficient and cost effective to collect, he said.

Stormwater fees, for example, vary and are calculated according to whether a lot is vacant or occupied, he said. Occupied lots typically are charged more than vacant lots because they contribute more water into the stormwater drainage system.

"The amount people currently pay for vacant and built lots is determined by a formula that's been approved by the courts," Cunningham said. "If people paid according to property value, which is what they do for ad valorem taxes, it would alter that equation in a way that forces homeowners to pay more for other people's vacant lots. The value of your property doesn't have anything to do with the cost to maintain the stormwater system."

Residents received garbage collection bills until about five years ago, when the City Council voted to put the fee on tax bills as a cost-cutting measure. It saves the garbage company administrative and collection fees, which would be borne by customers, he said.

Cunningham conceded Port St. Lucie's residential tax bills are among the highest in the state.

"Our total city tax rate you pay is pretty reasonable compared to other comparable cities around the state," he said. "But when you end up factoring all the various fees from the various taxing agencies, such as the school district, the fire district, the county, Port St. Lucie is at the higher end. The total (tax bill) is among the higher rates than other comparable areas. Translation: It's not the city's fault."

'TERRIBLE INJUSTICE'

Mizell asked for help at the City Council's Aug. 13 and Sept. 10 meetings, but said his pleas have been largely ignored.

Then-City Councilman Jack Kelly was the only one to help, he said. Kelly, a Lions Club International member, got his nonprofit to pay Mizell's tax bill this year. Mizell said he personally reached out to Mayor JoAnn Faiella, and "She does not care."

After the St. Lucie News Tribune contacted Faiella for comment and told her of Alachua's program, she said she would consider helping Mizell. She said she will investigate other counties' programs to help those in similar situations as Mizell.

"We're not ignoring his issues," Faiella said Dec. 12. "We're just trying to collect all the information at the present time. My heart goes out to Mr. Mizell. It really does. But we also have social organizations in our city that might be able to help out Mr. Mizell. We just can't say yes we're going to do it for him until we weigh all the pros and cons."

Mizell said he's tried contacting state legislators and the governor's office for help, to no avail.

Faiella said she will present her findings to the city's legal department, then the City Council to discuss whether the city should adopt some type of help program.

Mizell moved here in 2009 from Fort Lauderdale, where he said he paid no taxes because the city didn't have any non-ad valorem assessments on his home at the time.

Mizell injured his spine and has been in a wheelchair for 22 years. He was training to become a commercial pilot in 1993 when he crashed his twin-engine Cessna into a field in Louisiana after the engine failed shortly after takeoff.

His Viscaya Street home, in a neighborhood off Airoso Boulevard, has been on the market for about three months. He said he doesn't want to move but has no choice if the city doesn't stop taxing him.

"What they're doing is a terrible injustice," Mizell said. "How can you tax somebody blindly without knowing their situation? It's kind of like 'get out if you can't pay here.' That's wrong. I shouldn't have to pick up and move because they want to be greedy. I'm just one step above homeless."